. About the man who created Amazon. Jeffrey Preston Bezos was born in New Mexico when his mother was just 17 years old. Jeff never met his biological father. When Jeff was four years old, his mother married Miguel Bezos, a Cuban engineer for Exxon. The family moved to Miami, Florida, where Jeff attended high school. From the beginning Bezos was something of a magician. He turned the family garage into a makeshift laboratory where he conducted many experiments including a solar microwave oven, a burglar alarm, an infinite cube, and countless others. In high school, Bezos fell in love with computers and was at the top of his class. Bezos entered Princeton University to study physics, but soon returned to his first love, computers, and majored in computer science and electrical engineering. he was recruited by several companies after graduation and eventually settled on Fitel, a financial telecommunications start-up. Bezos quickly rose to the top, becoming associate director just nine months after being hired. After two years Bezos left Fitel for Bankers Trust Company, where he oversaw the development of BTWorld, a software program that allowed the company's clients to check the performance of their pension plans. It was no surprise to anyone when Bezos became vice president at 26, the youngest person to do so. Shortly thereafter, Bezos joined DE Shaw & Co. as a hedge fund manager. Once again, he quickly rose to the position of senior vice president, and once again at 28 Bezos became the youngest person in the company's history to reach such a high post. In 1994, Internet commerce (e-commerce) was tiny. One day in the spring of 1994, Bezos, who was already crazy about computers, observed that Internet usage was increasing geometrically and that more and more people were excited about its astonishing business possibilities. Some inventors were already trying to use the new technology. Bezos saw the opportunity for a new sphere of commerce and immediately began considering its possibilities. The biggest thought in his mind was, “What is it that users can't easily get offline that he will be able to sell online?” There were several congruent factors at play now. Internet usage was growing rapidly. PCs and laptops were exploding. People were hungry for information online. Payment mechanisms (although still with security issues) were coming into force. The government was supportive and wanted the Internet to become an engine of the new American economy while Detroit's smokestacks waned.